British GT

The British GT Championship kicks off at Oulton Park tomorrow with a packed field

OULTON Park has enjoyed a quiet Easter Sunday as it gears up for the opening day of the British GT Championship on Easter Monday.

A close qualifying session on Saturday left the grid for Race One wide open with the top five spots all filled by different car manufacturers.

Ferrari, Porsche, Mercedes, Audi and Aston Martin line up on the front rows for the opening race of the new season with fans watching on to see the new cars and rules in action.

A busy off season has seen a host of rule changes, including the replacement of weight ballast with a time penalty which drivers have supported.

Michael Lyons will lead the pack on the first lap of the new season as he qualified on pole for Race One in his Scuderia Vittoria with defending champion David Ashburn well placed in second, only two-tenths behind.

For the second race which saw the elite drivers qualify late on Saturday afternoon, Porsche expert Richard Westbrook fought off a challenge from international GT star Allan Simonsen to take Trackspeed’s maiden pole in 2o11.

Elsewhere in GT4, it was a mixed day for ABG Motorsport as they took pole position for the opening race with Peter Belshaw at the wheel but their sister car driven by Michael Mallock and Greek star Athanasios Ladas did not make it to the track for qualifying and will start from the back of the grid.

Round 1 Qualifying

GT3

1.  Scuderia Vittoria Ferrari  Michael Lyons  1m 38.757s

2.  Trackspeed Porsche  David Ashburn  1m 38.924s

3.  Preci-Spark Mercedes  David Jones  1m 39.088s

4.  United Autosports Audi  Mike Guasch (USA)  1m 39.883s

5.  Beechdean Aston Martin  Andrew Howard  1m 40.583s

6.  CRS Racing Ferrari  Jim Geddie  1m 40.853s

7.  Trackspeed Porsche  Gregor Fisken  1m 41.126s

8.  Rosso Verde Ferrari  Hector Lester  1m 41.132s

9.  United Autosports Audi  Jay Palmer  1m 41.290s

10.  Speedworks Motorsport Corvette  Ron Johnson  1m 42.314s etc

GT3B

1.  MTECH Ferrari  John Dhillon  1m 46.217s

GT4

1.  ABG Motorsport KTM  Peter Belshaw  1m 44.995s

2.  Scuderia Vittoria Ginetta  Dan Denis  1m 45.224s

3.  Lotus Sport UK Lotus  Freddy Nordstrom  1m 45.916s

4.  Century Motorsport Ginetta  Jake Rattenbury  1m 46.423s

5.  Lotus Sport UK Lotus  Ollie Jackson  1m 46.512s

6.  ABG Motorsport KTM  Athanasios Ladas (GRE) no time

GT Cup

1.  Chevron Racing Chevron  Jordan Witt  1m 44.201s

Round 2 Qualifying

GT3

1.  Trackspeed Porsche  Richard Westbrook  1m 36.505s

2.  Rosso Verde Ferrari  Allan Simonsen (DEN)  1m 37.156s

3.  United Autosports Audi Matt Bell  1m 37.562s

4.  Beechdean Aston Martin Jonny Adam  1m 37.956s

5.  MTECH Ferrari  Matt Griffin (IRL)  1m 38.007s

6.  CRS Racing Ferrari  Glynn Geddie  1m 38.055s

7.  Predator CCTV Ferrari Adam Wilcox  1m 38.342s

8.  CRS Racing Ferrari  Alex Mortimer  1m 38.670s

9.  Chad Racing Ferrari  Steven Kane  1m 38.697s

10. United Autosport Audi  John Bintcliffe  1m 39.032s etc

GT3B

1.  MTECH Ferrari  Aaron Scott  1m 40.820s

GT4

1.  Scuderia Vittoria Ginetta  David McDonald  1m 44.502s

2.  ABG Motorsport KTM  Marcus Clutton  1m 44.563s

3.  Lotus Sport UK Lotus  Leyton Clarke  1m 46.575s

4.  Lotus Sport UK Lotus  Jack Drinkall  1m 47.185s

5.  Century Motorsport Ginetta  Josh Wakefield  1m 47.329s

6.  ABG Motorsport KTM  Michael Mallock  No time

GT Cup

1.  Chevron Racing Chevron  Anthony Reid  1m 42.390